Jarad Higgins (born December 2, 1998), better known by his stage name Juice Wrld (stylized as Juice WRLD and pronounced "Juice World"), is an American rapper, singer and songwriter. In 2018, he broke into the mainstream with his singles "Lucid Dreams" and "All Girls Are the Same".[4] He is signed to Lil Bibby's Grade A Productions and Interscope Records.[5]

Higgins' debut studio album Goodbye & Good Riddance was released on May 23, 2018, and has since gone gold. The album peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 while all of his singles have charted on the Billboard Hot 100. "Lucid Dreams", the album's second single, was the most successful, peaking at number two and reaching further international success than other releases.

Higgins was a heavy drug user during his childhood and teens. He began drinking lean in 6th grade and using percocets and xanax in 2013. Higgins also smoked cigarettes, quitting in his last year of high school due to health issues.[11] Today, he only smokes cannabis.[12]

He first learned to play the piano at four years old, being inspired by his mother who later began paying for lessons, followed by guitar and drums. Higgins also played trumpet for band class.[11] Higgins began to take rapping seriously in his sophomore year of high school.[13][14]

Higgins began to develop himself as an artist in his freshman year of high school. His first track, "Forever", was released on SoundCloud in 2015 under the name JuicetheKidd. Higgins recorded a majority of his first tracks on a cellphone, uploading them to SoundCloud in his sophomore year.[12] His name changed from JuicetheKidd, a name inspired by his affection for rapper Tupac Shakur and his part in the film Juice, to Juice Wrld because it "represents taking over the world."[10]

His first track produced by his current producer Nick Mira, "Too Much Cash", was released in 2017.[15] While releasing projects and songs on SoundCloud, Higgins worked in a factory, but was fired within two weeks after finding himself dissatisfied with the job.[16] After joining the internet collective Internet Money, Higgins released his debut full-length EP, 9 9 9, on June 15, 2017, with the song "Lucid Dreams" breaking out and growing his following.[17][14]

In mid 2017, the artist began to receive attention from artists such as Waka Flocka Flame and Southside, as well as fellow Chicago artists G Herbo and Lil Bibby. He signed with the latter's co-owned record label, Grade A Productions subsequently.[18]

In December 2017, Higgins released the three-song EP Nothings Different. It was featured on numerous hip-hop blogs, such as Lyrical Lemonade,[19] which helped Higgins's track "All Girls Are the Same" gain popularity. In February 2018, a music video directed by Cole Bennett was released.[17] Following the release of All Girls Are the Same's video, Higgins was signed to Interscope Records for $3,000,000[20] and a remix featuring Lil Uzi Vert was previewed.[21] "All Girls Are the Same" was critically praised, receiving a "Best New Music" designation from Pitchfork.[22] This song and "Lucid Dreams" were Higgins's first entries on a Billboard chart, debuting at number 92 and 74 on the Billboard Hot 100 respectively.[23]

In May 2018, "Lucid Dreams" was officially released as a single and given a video.[24] It has since peaked at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100[25] and quickly became one of the biggest streaming songs of 2018.[12] Higgins released his first studio album, Goodbye & Good Riddance, on May 23, 2018.[26] On June 19, 2018, he released a two-song EP, Too Soon.., in remembrance of and dedicated to deceased rappers Lil Peep and XXXTentacion, the latter of whom was killed in a homicide case relating to robbery a day earlier. The song "Legends" from the EP charted under its debut at number 65.

Due to a Google Drive hack, many of Juice WRLD's unreleased songs had been extensively circulating, and in August 2018, songs began to leak. One particularly significant leak ("In My Head") revealed a collaboration with The Chainsmokers. As of now, there are over 100 leaked songs, and even more in circulation.

Higgins's first single as Juice WRLD featuring a collaboration was released on July 10, 2018, titled "Wasted" featuring Lil Uzi Vert. The song was added to Goodbye & Good Riddance and debuted at number 67 on the Billboard Hot 100.[27] The next day, Higgins announced he was working on his next album.[28] Following a series of leaks, Higgins' producer Danny Wolf released "Motions" on SoundCloud, giving the song an official release.[29] On July 20, 2018, Higgins announced his first tour, "WRLD Domination" with additional acts YBN Cordae and Lil Mosey.[30]

Higgins was featured on Travis Scott's Astroworld featuring on the song "No Bystanders" which peaked at number 31 on the Billboard Hot 100.[31][32][33] He also had his first late night television debut performing the song "Lucid Dreams" on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on August 8, 2018.[34] On October 15, 2018, the music video for the song "Armed & Dangerous" was released[35] and the lead single for the collaboration album Wrld On Drugs with Future was also released, called "Fine China".[36]Wrld on Drugs, Higgins’ second mixtape and a collaborative project with Future was released on October 19, 2018, via Epic Records.[37]

In December, the rapper Ski Mask the Slump God confirmed that he and Juice WRLD will release a joint mixtape called Evil Twins in 2019. [38]